Woman who Founded Indiana Catholic Order Closer to Sainthood
RYAN LENZ, Associated Press

ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind., FEb. 22, 2006 (www.fortwayne.com) - The 19th century foundress of a community of nuns in western Indiana has edged closer to Roman Catholic sainthood with the Vatican's approval of a second miracle - the reputed curing of a man's damaged eyesight.

Mother Theodore Guerin, who founded the Sisters of Providence community near Terre Haute, is credited with helping restore the eyesight of Phil McCord, an employee at the order's mother house, Sister Ann Margaret O'Hara, the community's general superior, said Wednesday.

"The Sisters of Providence have received the joyous news from the Vatican that the way is now open for the canonization of our foundress," O'Hara said at a news conference. Guerin started the order in 1840.

To become a saint, the pope must declare that person worthy of veneration or imitation. If Pope Benedict XVI approves Guerin's cause, officials expect a canonization ceremony to be held at the Vatican this fall.

McCord, the director of facilities management for the order since 1997, said during a news conference Wednesday that surgery to remove a cataract from his right eye in 2000 resulted in a damaged cornea, and his doctor recommended a corneal transplant.

McCord, 59, of Terre Haute, said that while pondering whether to have the transplant, he entered the chapel at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, which Guerin also founded.

"Mother Theodore, if you've got any influence," McCord recalled praying, "I'd like you to exercise it now to help."

His eyesight began improving the following morning, he said during a news conference the order held to announce the Vatican had recognized the miracle.